Around the World through ESL
Newsletter
Vol.1007
June 09, 2014
World Cup Fever!
Flag of Brazil ‐ 2014 World Cup Host NPR reporter Jason Beaubien sums up soccer this way. “Soccer
touches some universal chord. It's a simple sport that transcends
language that spans the world in a way that very few other
human activities have.”
The World Cup takes place every 4 years. The first World Cup
was held in 1930 in Uruguay and consisted of 13 teams, all of
which were invited to participate. The current format consists of
a 32-team final tournament involving almost 200 teams from
around the world. Soccer’s global governing body, FIFA,
estimates that 3.2 billion people, which is roughly half the
world's population, tuned in at some point to watch the 2010
World Cup in South Africa. The audience for this year’s World
Cup in Brazil is expected to be even larger. This year’s top
contenders are returning champions, Spain, along with
Argentina, Germany and host nation, Brazil. Tune in to find out
who will come out on top!
Our ESL program at Reynolds has had a number of soccer
superstars over the years. Current student, Abdoulaye Fall, of
Senegal is one such player and is featured here.
Soccer player, Aboulaye Fall, hails from Senegal,
West Africa. He started to play soccer at age 5, noting
that an early start is critical in developing the skills to
become a soccer star. Abdoulaye explained that soccer
provides an easy opportunity to play since no fancy
equipment is needed. As a result, soccer is popular all
over the world. Abdoulaye was invited to play on one
of the national teams when coaches saw him playing in
a city tournament. His father was reluctant to support
his participation at this time because there was no
insurance or liability for players, but he allowed
Abdoulaye to join under one condition – that he do well
in school and show his father his good grades.
Abdoulaye played on a senior team for about 6 years
until he injured his knee and had to stop. His
involvement in soccer did not end there, however.
During holidays when many kids had nothing to do,
Abdoulaye brought soccer balls to the field in the
morning and played with the kids. The number of kids
who joined Abdoulaye’s group grew steadily. Finally,
Abdoulaye got formal training to become a coach.
Some of the players he coached over the years now
play in the premiere league in France! When
Abdoulaye won the green card lottery and came to the
U.S., he volunteered to coach recreational soccer for the
Richmond Kickers and worked with the U12 girls.
Time and family responsibilities have gotten in the way
of his local involvement in soccer, but he would like to
return to it someday.
In 2002, Senegal reached the quarter final in the World
Cup, but this year they did not make it, being ousted by
rival Ivory Coast. Of the 5 African countries
participating this year (Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana,
Ivory Coast, and Nigeria), Abdoulaye is rooting for
Nigeria since it’s a solid team with a good coach.
When asked what he would like others to know about
his country, Abdoulaye said he would like people to
understand that Africa is a continent, not a country, and
that while safety is an issue in some African countries,
that is not the case in most parts of West Africa. He
said that the Senegalese people are very welcoming and
people would not think twice about inviting you to stay
in their house as a guest. He misses drinking tea
together with friends in the summer as this is a time
when people spend 1 or 2 hours together talking and
socializing.
Sources
http://www.npr.org/2014/06/08/318535258/the-world-cup-remindsus-that-all-the-worlds-a-soccer-field
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_FIFA_World_Cup Abdoulaye Fall The faces of ESL
Our ESL student population continues to bring a wealth of
diversity to our college. To give you a better picture of
this diversity, just look at the make-up of some of our
summer classes. In one class of 18 students, 16 countries
and 17 languages (some students speak more than one
“first” language) are represented. In another class of 18
students, 16 countries and 9 languages are represented. In
the 5 ESL classes offered this summer, we have students
from 35 countries. You might be surprised to learn that in
one of our classes, French, not Spanish or Arabic, is the
predominant language! In recent years, we have had
growing numbers of Arabic speakers from a variety of
countries, along with French speakers, mostly hailing from
African nations. The largest refugee group at this time is
from Burma, currently known as Myanmar.
Tips for working with non-native speakers
If you’ve ever traveled to another country, you may have
experienced what it is like to try to communicate with others,
even if you have studied the language of that country. If you
have been in that situation, you can probably also recall how
much you appreciated people who were patient with you and
who made you feel welcome and how uncomfortable you felt
with those who were not so helpful and friendly. Here are
some simple tips that can go far in building positive
relationships with non-native speaking students.
1.
Make students feel welcome. Smiles, gestures,
head nods all indicate to hesitant students that you
want them to succeed. Even though some students
come from countries where direct eye contact is
considered disrespectful, most students understand
that this is common practice here. Not making eye
contact may be interpreted as disinterest on your
part.
In the classroom, invite students to tell you a little bit
about where they are from but split the difference
between over-recognizing the “otherness” of your
non-native speakers, especially in the classroom
setting.
“In other parts of the world, isn’t that right, Akram?
people may assume all police officers accept
bribes.”
…and not acknowledging possible cultural
differences at all…
“Of course, all 18 year olds are eager to leave home
and live an independent life, as far from family as
possible.”
It is also important not to assume that an individual
student is an expert on everything about their
country. Asking students to share their knowledge
with the class can be somewhat intimidating.
2.
Recognize that some non-native students will arrive
with a deficit of knowledge about U.S. body language.
Examples: head hung down & inability to meet
your gaze might mean a student is honoring you by
not making direct eye contact. A head wag, left-toright, in some countries means “yes” while a head
nod, up-and-down, means “no.” Some students
won’t feel comfortable being physically close to
you for any reason, even when you ask a student to
come to your desk so you can point out an example
on a test paper, etc. Other students will seem to
invade your personal space, causing you to feel the
need to back up.
3.
Be patient and be conscious of your volume, your
vocabulary and your speaking speed.
Use synonyms. It is not helpful to repeat the same
phrase over & over again, louder. If a non-native
speaker doesn’t seem to know the word “exponential,”
try “increasingly large” instead.
Use a different part of speech. Maybe a student
hasn’t heard “repetitive” but does know “repeat.”
Provide written support.
In advising situations, writing key words down or
having some examples of common forms used can be
helpful.
In the classroom, consider supporting your lectures or
activities with a Power Point presentation containing
key terms written out, or at the least, write troublesome
words on the whiteboard.
Some sounds are particularly hard for non-native
English speakers to distinguish. If you’re getting
blank looks from non-native speakers, be aware that
the sounds for t/d, f/v or p/b are really very similar!
Beware of using idiomatic language and slang.
If non-native students haven’t heard a slang or
idiomatic expression before, their brains will be
working desperately to decode that one expression and
thus they may not understand any other content you
say afterwards. It is fine to use idioms or slang as
long as you “define” each expression during your
lesson.
Remember that just treating people as you
like to be treated goes a long way!
ESL Program Staff: Laurie Weinberg (coordinator), Marty
Watkin (faculty), Jinky Ebarle Davis (advisor), and Chris Early
(work study)